The Master of Arts in Mathematics degree program provides advanced training in the theory of mathematics and its applications to a broad range of disciplines. This program prepares students for positions in education, government agencies, industry, or nonprofit institutions, or for further graduate study leading to a PhD degree.
Degree Requirements
The requirements for obtaining an MA in Mathematics can be found on the associated page of the BU Bulletin.
The requirements for the MA are as follows:
- 8 semester courses numbered 500 or above, which are chosen in consultation with the Director of Graduate Studies and must be passed with a grade of B- or higher.
- The MA Comprehensive Exam (see below).
The course requirements are stated here in terms of semester courses. Technically, the requirement is 32 credits, but math courses numbered 500 or above normally carry 4 credits. Credit for courses taken elsewhere may count toward the course requirement if transfer credit is awarded by GRS.
- Courses: The courses mentioned on the BU Bulletin page can be chosen from the courses numbered MA 500 and above. You can find more information about the graduate courses we offer here. Students can also request to use courses from other departments to satisfy some of these requirements. Please contact your advisor for more information about which courses can be used in this way. All courses must be passed with a grade of B- or higher.
- Comprehensive Examination:
- The Master’s Comprehensive Exam has the same format for MA students and for PhD students, but for the latter cohort the designation Preliminary Exam is more descriptive. To prepare for the exam, the student must first of all choose an exam advisor, who may be a faculty member, a postdoctoral fellow, or a research faculty member and who in the case of a PhD student could become, but would not necessarily become, the student’s thesis advisor. The exam has a written component and an oral component. The written component consists of an expository paper of typically fifteen to twenty-five pages on which the student works over a period of a few months under the guidance of the advisor. The topic of the expository paper is chosen by the student in consultation with the advisor. The topic should be appropriate to a 700 level course but not something that is routinely covered in an existing 700 level course, and a high standard of mathematical exposition is expected.
- On completion of the paper, the student takes an oral exam given by a committee of three, one of whom is the advisor and at least one of whom is a faculty member. The oral exam consists of a presentation by the student on the expository paper followed by questioning by the committee members. The student is strongly advised to provide a near-final draft of the expository paper to committee members at least 3 weeks in advance of the oral exam, and the committee can refuse to hold the oral exam at the previously scheduled time if they have not received the draft sufficiently far in advance.
- A student who does not pass does not perform satisfactorily on the MA Comprehensive Exam may make a second attempt, but all students are expected to pass the exam no later than the end of the summer following their second year. For this reason, students are strongly encouraged not to wait until the last minute to take the exam, in case a repeat exam is necessary. A student could be asked to repeat the exam because either the written exposition or the performance on the oral component of the exam was judged inadequate, but in making a second attempt, the student would not be expected to choose a whole new topic and write a whole new paper. Rather, the point would be to rewrite the paper thoroughly or to display better mastery of the material on the oral exam. As with the PhD qualifying exam, the committee for the MA Comprehensive Exam has considerable leeway in prescribing the parameters of a second attempt.